Investigators say members of a drug trafficking organization planned and carried out the brutal murder of a northern Georgia woman. Nine of the fourteen defendants charged in the case have pleaded guilty. Three others remain at large.
These new revelations and pleas are the latest developments in the two-year-old Rossana Delgado murder case. The Barrow County cab driver and mother of two disappeared on April 16, 2021. That was the day she was lured to a Dekalb County mall and abducted, according to the GBI.
Delgado’s captors took her to locations in Dekalb and Clayton counties before taking her to a rental cabin in Gilmer County. According to investigators, Delgado was tortured and killed in the hut.
According to prosecutors in the Appalachian Judicial Circuit, employees of the drug trafficking organization dismembered and burned Delgado’s body. On April 20, 2021, Gilmer County Delgados officials found remains while conducting a welfare inspection at an apartment building in Cherry Log.
Rossano Delgado disappeared on April 16, 2021 in Dekalb County. Her remains were discovered days later in Gilmer County in northern Georgia. (Facebook)
Working with local and state law enforcement agencies, the GBI identified and arrested several suspects. Three of them were arrested by the authorities in Mexico and extradited to the United States. Among them was Juan Ayala-Rodriguez from Gainesville.
A Gilmer County grand jury indicted the fourteen suspects last year. A trial was supposed to start on May 1st, however Ayala-Rodriguez and eight others pleaded guilty.
guilty pleas
The DA’s office states that the defendants’ drug trafficking organization has been linked to the distribution of controlled substances, such as methamphetamine, throughout Georgia. They all pleaded guilty to racketeering charges.
Oscar Manuel Garcia also pleaded guilty to first degree murder, kidnapping, covering up a death, removal of body parts from a crime scene and aggravated assault.
Ayala-Rodriguez and Juan Antonio Vega pleaded guilty to kidnapping, aggravated assault and covering up a death.
The judge sentenced Garcia and Ayala-Rodriguez to life imprisonment and Vega to 30 years.
Megan Alyssa Colone was sentenced to 18 years and Eva Galicia Martinez to 13 years for violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).
Terri Amanda Garner, Patrick Harvard, Calvin Harvard and Shawn Callaway were also convicted under the RICO Act and sentenced to prison followed by probation.
“It is my hope, while this matter is pending, that the decisions and judgments made at this time will assist the family and loved ones of Rossana Delgado in reaching a conclusion,” said B. Alison Sosebee, Appalachian District Attorney.
She continued, “I would like to thank all law enforcement agencies that have been involved in the investigation of this case. This matter not only spanned numerous local and state jurisdictions, but also included the federal government’s assistance in extraditing defendants from Mexico. The GBI has taken extensive action in its investigation and arrest of these individuals. Our local and state law enforcement agencies have been invaluable and I would like to especially thank the Gilmer County Sheriff’s Office for their full involvement in this matter, as well as the Fannin County Sheriff’s Office and the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office for their support.”
Still at large
Three of the suspects remain at large. Carolina Jazmin Rodriguez Ramirez and Mario Alberto Barbosa-Juarez are both from Oklahoma City. Maria Katherine Encarnacion is from Marietta, investigators say.
Authorities are asking the public for help in finding him.
Anyone with information as to their whereabouts is encouraged to contact the GBI by phone at 1-800-597-8477 or online through the GBI’s website or the See Something, Send Something app.
The GBI warns against approaching them if you see them. Call 911 immediately.
